Tools for Acer Laptops

HDD_PW.EXE ▪ ATA Hard Disk User Password Removal Utility

Those who need it
already know what it is
(so I won’t bother trying to explaining it). The tool is
ridiculously small—but still, it inexplicably is hosted on all kinds of sleazy obnoxious sharehosters. Since I
consider even visiting one of those cesspits as worse than downloading random executable files from some unknown
guy’s website, I think it’s only fair to re-host this li’l file here. I won’t try to offend your intelligence by
claiming that the files are of course 100 % certified virus free, but rather expect that you use your common
sense and check for yourself.

hdd_pw.exe.gz (11 kB).
Same file as above, but compressed. Some antivirus software really doesn’t want you to download
random executables from the internet; this should make it easier to get past the screen.

BIOS_PW.EXE ▪ BIOS Password Removal Utility

I’m Using 64bit Windows—What Now?

The 64-bit versions of Windows can’t run DOS programs anymore, at least not directly.
There are emulators such as DOSbox though which work just fine with the two tools above
(I’ve tested it). DOSbox is not that difficult to set up, but it’s still somewhat of a hassle—especially just for running a simple tool once.
Therefore I’ve provided a preconfigured DOSbox installation
here which contains both utilities:

In the extracted directory, find and run the file dosbox preconfigured.cmd.
Make sure not to run dosbox.exe directly, as DOSbox won’t pick up the
right configuration then.

Once the A:\> prompt comes up,
type either hdd_pw.exe or bios_pw.exe and you’re set.

If it still doesn’t work, drop me a note and I’ll see what I can do.

So How Do I Use These Stupid Command-line Tools Then?

This apparently confuses many people who are not used to working with CLI tools: Both tools are meant to be used from the command-line shell.
If you simply run them from the download directory, it might still work, but especially on newer Windows versions it likely won’t
and you’ll just get a black window flashing up and vanishing after an instant.
Use ‘Start’, ‘Run’, then cmd.exe to get a command-line prompt—this should work on most windows versions.
Alternatively, the ‘Accessories’ group should contain ‘Command prompt’ or something of the like.
I’m using the Norwegian locale; here it’s ‘Ledetekst’ filed under ‘Tilbehør’, but this might not be too helpful for you.

Once the command-line prompt is open—well, it’s a command prompt.
I won’t try to write a DOS crash course with screenshots and stuff here—perhaps later, if there is sufficient demand.
In any way, you have to navigate to where you saved the programs and run them.
I’m assuming a username of urist and that the files were saved to the default ‘Downloads’ directory.
The sequence would then look something like this:

Open command prompt. Command prompt will show C:\Users\urist.

Navigate to ‘Downloads’ directory: CD Downloads.

Run programs: HDD_PW.EXE or BIOS_PW.EXE, then follow the on-screen instructions.

Or know what? The preconfigured DOSbox pretty much does all this for you:
Download, start, follow instructions, get passwords.
Granted, the download is quite literally a hundred times bigger, but it’s still small enough that it won’t choke my meagre uplink, so have at it.